These chemicals have been linked to a variety of illnesses from “sick building syndrome” which includes fatigue, myalgias, asthma, headache, palpitations and possible nosebleeds to cancer and possibly death.

Household plants can help eliminate these from the air that you and your family breathe.

The following 12 household plants may come in handy:

Aloe Vera -- helps reduce benzene and formaldehyde.

Spider Plant -- reduces carbon monoxide and formaldehyde.

Boston Fern -- removes formaldehyde.

Snake Plant -- removes benzene and formaldehyde.

Areca Palm -- removes most of the above mentioned chemicals and has been rated, “Most efficient air purifying plant” by NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America. (Pictured above).

Lady Palm -- removes formaldehyde and ammonia.

Bamboo Palm -- removes benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde.

Peace Lily -- removes benzene, ammonia and formaldehyde.

Golden Pothos -- removes most of the above chemicals.

Dragon Tree -- removes xylene.

English Ivy -- removes formaldehyde and mold.

Chinese Evergreen -- multi-talented as well eliminating much of the above chemicals.

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Daliah Wachs, MD, FAAFP is a Board Certified Family Physician.The Dr. Daliah Show , is nationally syndicated M-F from 11:00am-2:00pm and Saturday from Noon-1:00pm (Central) at GCN.

There’s never a reason to be fondling a phone while driving, but people do it. So what’s the solution? Well, if you have a newer car with hands-free technology, you already have a solution. But not all of us can afford to buy new cars this very minute. There’s a cheap solution for us, too.

For less than $20, you can equip your car with hands-free technology as long as you have a working 12-volt socket and radio in your car. These Bluetooth devices allow you to take calls with the push of a button, which is the equivalent of changing the radio station. You’ll never fumble around for your phone while driving again, and you can listen to your music library during your commute. I actually own one of these, and they are literal lifesavers.

If you’re one of these people who doesn’t know where they’re going and use your smartphone as a GPS while driving, spend a few bucks on a caddie for your smartphone and mount it to your dash. Even if you enter your destination before you start driving, if you don’t have a caddie for your smartphone, you’re looking down at your phone and not at the road. So put your smartphone in a place where you can still see the road. For less than $30 all told you could potentially save a life.

New drivers are the ones most at risk of being ticketed or lost to distracted driving, though. I hope there’s a focus on that in driver's education courses. Some school districts are just getting around to changing drivers ed curriculum now. Smartphones didn’t exist when I went through drivers ed, but cell phones were starting to become more prevalent. The videos we watched looked like they were created for the first drivers ed course in the 1950s, so I hope distracted driving education is taking place in those courses, because I know these drivers, and they are as dangerous as drunk drivers, or even more so.

If you’re a parent of one of these new drivers, buy them the products mentioned above. You could save their life, and the Bluetooth device makes a great gift, especially if your new driver’s car has nothing but a radio, or worse yet, a CD player. CDs were the distracted driving of my generation.

This isn’t rocket science, folks. It’s not even car science. If you’re still fondling a phone while behind the wheel of a car, just stop it. You’re going to end up killing someone -- maybe yourself. Just take these simple steps to not only avoid a distracted driving ticket, but save your fellow motorists from frustration and harm.